Devil’s Lair Cabernet Sauvignon 2023

Written By Campbell Mattinson
Bottle of Devil's Lair Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 on a white background.

Devil’s Lair Cabernet Sauvignon 2023
$50, 14.5% alcohol, screwcap, Margaret River.

I was very interested to taste this, given the impression the 2021 Devil’s Lair Cabernet Sauvignon made on me. I’ve now tasted/consumed this from two different bottles, a couple of months apart, which is a luxury not often afforded in the wine reviewing game.

The tannin on this wine is quite something. Give it a chance to breathe and it spreads out beautifully. There’s cedarwood oak, boysenberry, whispers of herbs, a pure run of blackcurrant. There’s a plushness to the palate but the finish freshens and then heads on for another run. That finish, and that run, and that tannin, is where the superlatives are forged. 94/100 is Gold Medal standard in my world. 95 is heading into “high gold”. I’m high gold on this wine. 95 points.

Campbell Mattinson

This article was written by Campbell Mattinson, founder of The Winefront and mattinson, and former chief editor of Halliday.

When you pick up a wine book and see thousands of top-scoring wines, it’s hard to know which wine to choose. Mattinson guides you through this maze, giving you an honest view of the best Australian wines, the best wine stories, the best wine producers, the best value wines and simply, the best tasting wines. Importantly, Mattinson will tell you about the top-rated wines and also about the underrated wines. In short, Mattinson knows Australian wines inside and out.

Mattinson has been a photo-journalist since 1987. For the past 25 years he’s been a voice that you can trust when you’re looking for the best wines. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award, and is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter. He’s not afraid to put a score beside a wine. But what he’d rather do, is tell you the wine’s story.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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